Purple Martins at the Great Plains Nature Center

The Purple Martin Colony at the
Great Plains Nature Center

Male with food
Male Purple Martin with an insect for his brood
All photos on this page by Charles Cope

The Great Plains Nature Center is the proud landlord for a colony of Purple Martins! These are the largest species of North American swallows, and are of special interest to people because they will use nests provided by humans. We put up our Purple Martin houses in spring 1999 and were pleasantly surprised to have full occupancy within a month!

In 2000 we documented the progress of our "tenants" on our web site. We had weekly updates on our little families, with pictures and information about our birds and Purple Martin natural history. Our birds raised 29 young in 2000. See the photos and information on these pages for what a "typical" nesting cycle is like.

	Click here for our May 2000 nest visits.
	Click here for our June 2000 nest visits.
	Click here for our July 2000 nest visits.

Click here for this year's (2008) activity.
We began seeing martins the last week of March

Click below to see how our colony did each year.

	2007
	2006
	2005
	2004 was a total bust. A combination of cool, rainy weather and starling competition seem to have been the sources of our troubles.
	2003
	2002
	2001
	2000

Purple Martins east of the Rocky Mountains in the United States use artificial nesting structures almost exclusively.

Our colony has eight units mounted in a circular array on a flagpole-like structure. Each unit is a white plastic artificial gourd with an entrance hole for the birds and a screw-on lid for checking the nest.

Our Purple Martin Colony

Because of problems with starlings, in 2005 we modified our nests with starling-excluding openings and they did their job well. Here is what the opening looks like. The platform has a non-skid material on it that gives the birds better traction for wiggling through the opening. There is a similar platform on the inside so they can wiggle back out again!

Starling excluder opening

Checking Nests

The whole contraption can be lowered for maintenance and inspection. The birds leave while this is being done, but otherwise they don't seem to mind very much. The nests stay in the same compass position as they are raised and lowered. This is vital because the birds orient to the position of "their" nest, and will get confused if it changes its place.

MARTIN NEWS FOR 2008

	May 8 - It looks like we successfully evicted our sparrows! Gourd 6 now has a martin nest in it. And, we now have 2 eggs in Gourd 5. Gourds 2 and 8 are still not occupied, but the birds in Gourd 3 have completed their nest. We should have lots of eggs next week!
	May 1 - It has been a late spring, but the martins seem to be off to a good start. Four gourds have full nests built in them and two show evidence of nest building. We had to evict sparrows from gourd 6 however. The martins usually line the nest cup with small green elm leaves, but this year they are using cottonwood leaves for some reason.
	March 27 - Our martins began showing up in late March. We saw both males and females right away.

Summary of nesting activity in our colony in 2008

Nest 1 faces East and they are numbered in clockwise order
(2 is Southeast, 3 is South, etc.).

Date

Nest 1

Nest 2

Nest 3

Nest 4

Nest 5

Nest 6

Nest 7

Nest 8

8-May

Complete Nest

empty

Complete Nest

2 eggs

Complete Nest

Partial Nest

1-May

Complete Nest

empty

Partial Nest

Complete Nest

SPARROWS!

Complete Nest

Partial Nest

July 10, 2007 FINAL UPDATE - Our birds have all fledged! We produced 15 martins this year.

Summary of nesting activity in our colony in 2007

Date

Nest 1

Nest 2

Nest 3

Nest 4

Nest 5

Nest 6

Nest 7

Nest 8

10-July

Partial Nest

ALL GONE!

Partial Nest

ALL GONE!

empty

ALL GONE!

Partial Nest

3-July

Partial Nest

ALL GONE!

Partial Nest

3 Nestlings

empty

6 Nestlings

Partial Nest

26-June

Partial Nest

5 Nestlings 1 Fledged

Partial Nest

3 Nestlings

empty

7 Nestlings

Partial Nest

19-June

Partial Nest

6 Nestlings

Partial Nest

4 Nestlings

empty

7 Nestlings

Partial Nest

12-June

Partial Nest

6 Nestlings

Partial Nest

5 Hatchlings

empty

7 Nestlings

Partial Nest

6-June

Partial Nest

6 Nestlings

Partial Nest

5 Eggs

empty

7 Hatchlings

Partial Nest

30-May

Partial Nest

3 Eggs & 3 Hatchlings

Partial Nest

5 Eggs

empty

7 Eggs

Partial Nest

22-May

Partial Nest

6 Eggs

Partial Nest

4 Eggs

empty

7 Eggs!

Partial Nest

15-May

Partial Nest

6 Eggs

SPARROWS!

empty

1 Egg

Partial Nest

8-May

Partial Nest

SPARROWS!

empty

Partial Nest

1-May

Partial Nest

SPARROWS!

empty

Partial Nest

July 20, 2006 FINAL UPDATE: After more than a week of blistering heat, the martins have gone elsewhere. The only time we see them is once in a while in the early morning around the colony. Two dead nestlings in gourd 3 attest to the negative effects of this heat wave. Those evidently did not fledge in time. The 3 eggs in gourd 4 will be left for another week and then removed. Our total fledged for 2006 is eleven birds.

Summary of nesting activity in our colony in 2006

Date

Nest 1

Nest 2

Nest 3

Nest 4

Nest 5

Nest 6

Nest 7

Nest 8

20-July

ALL GONE!

Partial Nest

2 dead nestlings

3 eggs

empty

ALL GONE!

Partial Nest

13-July

Not checked this week

6-July

ALL GONE!

Partial Nest

5 nestlings

3 eggs!

empty

3 nestlings

Partial Nest

29-June

5 nestlings

Partial Nest

5 nestlings

Complete Nest

removed the sparrow nest

empty

3 nestlings & severe mite infestation

Partial Nest

22-June

5 nestlings

Partial Nest

5 nestlings

Complete Nest

possible sparrow nest

empty

4 nestlings

Partial Nest

15-June

5 nestlings, 1infertile egg

Partial Nest

4 hatchlings, 1 egg

Complete Nest

2 eggs

SPARROWS!

4 eggs, 1 hatchling

Partial Nest

8-June

6 eggs

Partial Nest

5 eggs

Complete Nest

SPARROWS!

5 eggs

Partial Nest

1-June

6 eggs

Partial Nest

5 eggs

Complete Nest

dead female, nest material removed

4 eggs

Partial Nest

25-May

not checked

19-May

Complete Nest

Partial Nest

Complete Nest

Partial Nest

no nest yet

11-May

Partial Nest

no nest yet

4-May

Partial Nest

no nest yet

Partial Nest

no nest yet

27-April

no nest yet

20-April

no nest yet

SPARROWS!

no nest yet

July 20, 2005 FINAL UPDATE: Our martins have fledged! All eight of our nestlings flew the coop within the last week. They are still hanging around the nest structure during the early morning, but they and their parents will soon be joining the migratory flocks as they prepare to go south for the winter. We were disappointed that only two of our gourds were used in 2005, but we were VERY pleased that the starling excluders worked!

Summary of nesting activity in our colony in 2005

Date

Nest 1

Nest 2

Nest 3

Nest 4

Nest 5

Nest 6

Nest 7

Nest 8

1-June

5 eggs

empty

1 egg

empty

8-June

5 eggs

empty

4 eggs

empty

15-June

5 hatched

empty

4 eggs

empty

23-June

4 nestlings

empty

4 hatched

empty

28-June

4 nestlings

empty

4 nestlings

empty

6-July

4 nestlings

empty

4 nestlings

empty

12-July

4 nestlings

empty

4 nestlings

empty

20-July

All gone!

empty

All gone!

empty

Summary of nesting activity in our colony in 2000
Date	Nest 1	Nest 2	Nest 3	Nest 4	Nest 5	Nest 6	Nest 7	Nest 8
1-May	Nest built	Nest built	Partial Nest	Nest built	Partial Nest	Partial Nest	Partial Nest	Twig
8-May	2 eggs	Nest built	Partial Nest	Nest built	Partial Nest	Partial Nest	Partial Nest	Twig
15-May	5 eggs	6 eggs	Nest built	6 eggs	Nest built	Nest built, 1 egg	Nest built	Twig
22-May	5 eggs	6 eggs	4 eggs	6 eggs	Nest built	3 eggs	4 eggs	Partial Nest
30-May	5 hatched	5/6 hatched	4 eggs	6 hatched	4 eggs	3 eggs	5 eggs	Partial Nest, 1 egg
5-June	5 nestlings	6 hatched	1/4 hatched	6 nestlings	4 eggs	1/4 hatched	3 eggs	Nest built, 5 eggs
12-June	5 nestlings	6 nestlings	4 hatched	6 nestlings	1/4 hatched	3 nestlings	3 hatched	5 eggs
19-June	5 nestlings, all banded	6 nestlings, all banded	4 nestlings	6 nestlings, all banded	1 hatched, 3 bad eggs	3 nestlings	3 nestlings	2/5 hatched
26-June	5 fledged	6 fledged	4 nestlings, all banded	6 fledged	1 nestling	3 nestlings, all banded	2 nestlings banded, 1 dead	2 nestlings, 3 bad eggs
3-July	5 fledged	6 fledged	4 fledged	6 fledged	1 nestling banded and 1 more egg (!)	3 fledged	2 fledged	2 nestlings banded
10-July	5 fledged	6 fledged	4 fledged	6 fledged	1 fledged egg abandoned	3 fledged	2 fledged	2 nestlings banded

To learn more about Purple Martins and how you can become a Purple Martin landlord yourself, visit these websites.
The Purple Martin Conservation Association http://www.purplemartin.org/	The Purple Martin Society of North America http://www.purplemartins.com/
Questions or comments? Send Email to Jim Mason Or write us at: Great Plains Nature Center 6232 E. 29th Street North Wichita, KS 67220-2200 Call: 316-683-5499 Fax: 316-688-9555